Unfortunate timing has forced Los Angeles, California-based Goodfish to rethink the launch of its sustainable crispy Alaskan salmon skins.
Goodfish already had a steady supply of salmon skins set up from Seattle, Washington-based Trident Seafoods, and was approaching natural and specialty retailers to carry the product when the product launched in mid-March – right at the start of the coronavirus crisis.
The company had been developing and refining the product and supply chain for more than two years with the support of a group of strategic partners led by AF Ventures.
However, due to the pandemic, the company adopted a different approach in its launch. The supplier is now primarily focused on online sales, Goodfish Co-Founder and CEO Douglas Riboud told SeafoodSource.
“COVID is triggering a lasting recession,” Riboud said. “We have adjusted our launch plans accordingly and are focusing on direct through our website and third-party e-commerce.”
Goodfish is still working with many retailers in the natural, specialty, gourmet, and convenience channels to roll out the product in traditional stores later this year, Riboud added, and Goodfish is already being carried in Fresh Market stores.
Riboud and fellow co-founder Justin Guilbert, who are also founders of Harmless Harvest, a supplier of coconut water and dairy alternatives, formed Goodfish to solve the “seafood conundrum,” they said.
They claim Goodfish is the first 100 percent traceable wild Alaska sockeye salmon snack, with product sourced from the “world’s most sustainable, well-regulated fisheries in Bristol Bay, Alaska.”
“Bristol Bay does not utilize hatchery-raised fish to supplement its natural run, making them one of the last entirely wild salmon runs in the world,” the supplier said in a press release.
The founders aim to make salmon skin “big business” so Goodfish can make a large positive impact on the world, Riboud said.
The product retails for USD 2.99 (EUR 2.65) per 0.5-ounce bag.
Riboud said the launch is the first of what he hopes to be many products aimed at being healthy and environmentally friendly.
“Goodfish has the ambition to offer a broad product spectrum that offers a combination of innovation, nutrition, sustainability, and scale to help turn the tide on the near-sighted approach our society has taken on the biomass of silent life that resides underwater,” Riboud said. “This resource is limited by definition and the only way to grow its value is by increasing the value of each fish. If you look at the world this way, every incremental value adds on how a wild resource develops its resiliency.”
Goodfish’s lead investor, AF Ventures, said the salmon skin product is poised for success, despite the change of plans on its launch.
“Upcycling a nutrient-dense ingredient that has historically been overlooked, Goodfish’s salmon skin is paving the way for future categories to rethink innovation,” AF Ventures Managing Partner Lauren Jupiter said in a press release.
Photo courtesy of Goodfish
